Coronado’s Quest: The Discovery of the American Southwest by Arthur Grove Day, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

  I share a fascination with Arthur Grove Day, for the Southwest, with its mix of Native American and Spanish cultures in the desert’s spectacular but harsh environment. He begins this spectacular history with, The American southwest, that region of sunlit mesas and deep-shadowed canyons, of snow-topped continental rooftrees of rock, of sandy flats and high piney parks, is a land that has never been conquered. It is called the Coronado Country.  He published this book in May 1940 when he was at Stanford University to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Coronado’s journey, explored many years before the English colonies […]

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Arizona: Its Land and Its People by Tom Miller, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker

The editor of this book is considered by many as one of the best nonfiction/travel writers in the country. Several of his books focus on the border, the Southwest, Cuba, and Latin America. He recently published his memoir, Where Was I? A Travel Writer’s Memoir about his illustrious career as a journalist, writer, and adventurer. He shared the impact of Parkinson’s on his writing, which tragically cut his life short. The editor and I share an appreciation of iconic writer Moritz Thomsen, whom Tom met in Ecuador while researching for The Panama Hat Trail, one of my all-time favorite tales, […]

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